When you hear of plastic ocean pollution, you may only think of images of floating waste like The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (litter that has ended up spinning on the surface of the North Pacific Ocean) — a large and visible reminder of the scale of plastic pollution in our oceans. However, what’s less discussed is what’s actually happening beneath the surface. What does plastic ocean pollution do to marine life that is less visible? It affects marine life in many ways. Pl

Menstrual products are essential for health, hygiene, and wellbeing, enabling millions of people to manage menstruation safely and participate fully in daily life. However, while these products provide important benefits, many commonly used disposable options also have significant environmental impacts, particularly through plastic pollution. Disposable menstrual products such as sanitary pads, tampons, and their applicators are often made from a combination of cotton, wood p

Africa is disproportionately affected by plastic pollution despite contributing just 5% of global plastic production. Waste dumping, discarded textiles and plastic products sold by multinational corporations reflect a wider environmental injustice whereby waste generated in the Global North is exported to lower-income countries. This has prompted many environmental campaigners to describe the practice as plastic colonialism. Yet this is only part of the story. Alongside the

Plastic is often seen as a miracle material. It certainly has useful properties: it’s durable, versatile and cheap. But what exactly is plastic? Plastics are moldable materials made up of polymers – long chains made from repeating molecules. Almost all plastics are derived from fossil fuels such as crude oil and natural gas. These contain a mixture of hydrocarbons which are processed in various stages to make plastic: Refining - Fossil fuels are extracted and refined into pro

As the public has become more concerned about plastic, Coca-Cola has deliberately hidden how harmful their products are to the environment. Coca-Cola is the world’s biggest plastic polluter and yet they present themselves as a sustainable brand. Coca-Cola has used deceptive advertising and misleading claims about their plastic packaging. They have presented recycling as the solution to the plastic problem, whilst producing more and more plastic. They have offered various vol

Soft plastic pollution is a global problem that negatively impacts the environment and the health of people living in countries with the most vulnerable climates and waste management systems. The corporations behind soft plastic pollution have not done enough to invest in effective waste management systems to handle the soft plastic they produce. Therefore, governments and consumers play a vital role in creating protections against soft plastic pollution. Various governmen

Single-use soft plastics, such as sachets and crisp packets, are produced on a massive scale but are nearly impossible to recycle. Nevertheless, they are exported across the world for waste management. The sorting process for soft plastic waste is difficult and requires that workers identify and separate over seven different types of plastics, often by burning them and smelling the fumes produced. To be recycled, the sorted plastic must then be cut into fine pieces, washed, a

Single-use soft plastics, such as sachets and crisp packets, are produced on a massive scale but are nearly impossible to recycle. Inadequate investment in waste management results in these plastics ending up in rivers, oceans, streets, and backyards across the world. The trouble with sachets… Soft plastics - defined as flexible plastic materials that do not hold a specific shape - are produced from natural gas or fossil fuels that are extracted from shale (a rock composed of

Danone is a French food and drink giant and a major plastic polluter. In September 2022, a coalition of anti-plastic NGOs, including ClientEarth, Surfrider Foundation Europe, and Zero Waste France, issued a legal warning to Danone, in an effort to get the mega corporation to publish statistics about its global plastic pollution. However, this warning was ignored. In January of 2023, the coalition filed a lawsuit against Danone over its failure to comply with French due dilige

The UK’s recycling rates are around 70% lower than in leading Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) countries with return rates exceeding 90% such as Germany, Finland and Norway. Financially incentivising recycling and reducing waste is important, but our end goal must be a reuse, not throwaway, economy. A DRS that includes glass is key. Glass is infinitely recyclable (although currently energy intensive). Inclusion of glass, as seen in Wales’ proposed model, helps improve resource re

If there’s one thing to take away from the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC 2025) and the ocean plastics crisis, it’s that solutions do exist, but that they’re not scaling, not enforced and not shared equally. Cleanup technology may help in pollution hotspot areas, but they treat symptoms, not causes and are cost intensive. Recycling has a role, but its effectiveness is vastly overstated and most plastics are actually not recyclable to date. Individual actions - whilst

The Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is an important step towards reducing litter and waste, but real progress means moving away from single-use packaging entirely. There are different types of DRS, some focusing on recycling single-use items, whilst others, particularly for glass, promote reuse. The idea behind DRS in the UK is to incentivise consumers to recycle drinks containers, but focusing on a reuse system is a better option. Recycling plastic doesn’t always work. When it

UK consumers use 25 billion single-use bottles yearly, over 6.5 billion of which are not recycled. That’s over 17 million plastic, glass, aluminium or steel bottles daily, contributing to polluted beaches, oceans and a growing emissions problem. You might have heard of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), a simple yet powerful environmental initiative that places a small refundable deposit - around 20p - on single-use drinks containers. Consumers can get their deposit back upon

Plastic pollution fuels the climate crisis and social injustices, while also threatening human health and biodiversity. Tiny plastic particles, from micro to nanoscale, are found everywhere from oceans to human organs. Meanwhile, the production and disposal of larger plastics generate massive greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists warn that plastic production could triple by 2050, worsening waste, environmental toxicity, and climate impacts. Governments and communities all arou

“If you really believe in something you can make it happen and it’s okay to make it up as you go along.”* Back in 2016, Dan Webb thought that plastic pollution happened in other parts of the world, not at home in the UK. But when he moved out of London to the coast, he was really shocked to see how much plastic pollution there was on the beaches, and decided to do something about it. Inspiration He started to realise just how much packaging there was, the amount that he was b

For a long time, the fossil fuel industry has been pushing the narrative that it is the fault of consumers that there is so much plastic pollution. They have said that the public is not recycling enough. They blame developing countries for the pollution that ends up in the sea. With the fall in revenue from fossil energy, the industry ramped up plastic production to mitigate its losses and focused on single use products to maximise turnover. They turned a blind eye to wha

Every day, we’re surrounded by plastic—it's in our homes, streets, and oceans. The global community has recognized the need for a change,...

“If you really believe in something you can make it happen and it’s okay to make it up as you go along.”* Back in 2016, Dan Webb thought...

With 49 million tonnes of plastic consumed annually across Europe in packaging alone, our appetite for plastic grows ever more ravenous. ...

Poisoning. Dismemberment. Disease. It sounds like a horror film in the making. But this is the reality faced by many beneath the ocean’s sur